MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile’s largest indigenous group, Mapuches celebrate New Year

The Mapuches feast and dance waiting for sunrise Friday

When the sun began to set on Thursday evening, the Mapuche people prepared for one of the most ancient celebrations in their history: the We-tripantu, or the New Year.

The celebration coincides with the winter solstice as Chile’s largest indigenous group comes together to bid farewell to the harvest season and usher in the sowing season by honouring the sun.

On Tuesday, Conadi, the Chilean government ministry for indigenous affairs, held an official ceremony leading up to the We-tripantu to honor the Mapuche.

“We want to maintain the culture and the languages,” Conadi Director Jorge Retamal Rubio said in a press release. “Traditions as important as the We-tripantu should serve to renew the relationship between the Mapuches and the non-Mapuches.”

Thursday night, families got together to feast on traditional Mapuche dishes like sopaipilla, a fried bread, muday, a fermented corn drink, and catuto, a bread made of ground grains, oil and salt.

In addition to meaning “new year,” We-tripantu also means “sunrise of the new sun” and at sunrise on Friday, Mapuche will bathe in the frigid waters of Chile’s rivers in order to purify their bodies and souls for the New Year.

Immediately following the bath, families typically participate in individual and group prayers before returning to their homes to play music, games and dance.

Together, they celebrate their coexistence with the sun, the land, nature and the seasons as the natural cycle starts over.

At the Conadi ceremony on Tuesday, Subdirector Marco Fuentes Mercado said that although this was the first time the ministry had celebrated with the Mapuche, it wouldn’t be the last.

“This is something unprecedented, which has a profound significance for the culture of the Mapuche people and is a call to all citizens to appreciate this culture because we are all part of it,” he said in a press release.

By Nathan Frandino – The Santiago Times